SEC Targets Glaxo Unit Over Underpriced Stock Buybacks

Law360, New York (December 12, 2011, 2:21 PM EST) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Stiefel Laboratories Inc. and its former CEO, alleging they defrauded investors and employees by repurchasing stock at dramatically undervalued prices before a $3.6 billion sale to GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

In a complaint filed in Florida federal court, the SEC alleges that between November 2006 and April 2009, Stiefel Labs and its former Chairman and CEO Charles W. Stiefel omitted key information in stock buyback offers to employees and other shareholders that would have alerted them that the price...